Fightback To Support 100 Female Promoters

The Music Venue Trust has teamed up with Music Planet Live to launch a new initiative that will encourage and assist 100 young female promoters to each stage a gig in a grassroots music venue of their choosing.

The scheme, cannily announced on International Women’s Day is part of the MVT’s fightback programme of fundraising events.

The ‘Fightback: Grassroots Promoter’ programme will make £100,000 available in ‘subsidy guarantees’, essentially under-writing shows that participating promoters stage across 100 venues.

The objective, as with any gig will be to at least break even but we all know how tight the margins are in live music, particularly at the grassroots level so this at least seeks to de-risk that first step.

Promoters taking part in the scheme will also have access to knowledge and advice. So, it’s a promoter development scheme using a similar model to various schemes Generator has promoted over the years, albeit with a gender specific focus.

MVT’s Beverley Whitrick said: “We want to make a big change to the independent promoter scene in the UK, enabling 100 young women to take a chance on promoting a show they believe in. With their support, we are not only going to raise money for Music Venue Trust, we are going to start the process of identifying the next wave of fantastic new independent promoters and tackle head-on diversity in this sector”.